What is the most common English mistake Portuguese speakers make in meetings?

The one that shows up most — “Actually” for “currently”. It comes out as “Actually we are working on the migration.” where a fluent colleague would say “We’re currently working on the migration.”. “Atualmente” means currently. In English “actually” signals a correction, so this accidentally contradicts whatever was just said.

Why do Portuguese speakers say “We pretend to finish this quarter.”?

“Pretender” means to intend. This one is worth fixing quickly — the English meaning is close to the opposite. The version that lands is “We intend to finish this quarter.”. It is interference from Portuguese rather than a gap in your English, which is why it survives years of fluency.

Do these Portuguese patterns matter if everyone understands me anyway?

Being understood and sounding authoritative are different bars, and in a client meeting you are held to the second one. None of the 4 patterns on this page stop you being understood — that is precisely why nobody corrects them, and why they are still there after ten years.

How do I find out which Portuguese habits I actually have?

Paste a transcript from a real meeting and say which speaker is you. Every finding quotes your own sentence back with the version a native speaker would have used, across 3 categories of Portuguese interference, and the ones that keep recurring build into a profile so you can see the habit rather than a one-off.

English mistakes Portuguese speakers make in meetings

Portuguese and English share a lot of vocabulary, which is mostly a gift and occasionally a trap. The traps are false friends and a couple of prepositions.

“Actually” for “currently”

Actually we are working on the migration.

We’re currently working on the migration.

“Atualmente” means currently. In English “actually” signals a correction, so this accidentally contradicts whatever was just said.

“Pretend” for “intend”

We pretend to finish this quarter.

We intend to finish this quarter.

“Pretender” means to intend. This one is worth fixing quickly — the English meaning is close to the opposite.

“In” for “on”

I will send it in Monday.

I’ll send it on Monday.

Portuguese uses one preposition for both, and “in” is the one that comes out.

Adverbs between verb and object

I finished already the report.

I’ve already finished the report.

Portuguese allows the adverb there; English does not.

Questions Portuguese speakers ask

What is the most common English mistake Portuguese speakers make in meetings?: The one that shows up most — “Actually” for “currently”. It comes out as “Actually we are working on the migration.” where a fluent colleague would say “We’re currently working on the migration.”. “Atualmente” means currently. In English “actually” signals a correction, so this accidentally contradicts whatever was just said.
Why do Portuguese speakers say “We pretend to finish this quarter.”?: “Pretender” means to intend. This one is worth fixing quickly — the English meaning is close to the opposite. The version that lands is “We intend to finish this quarter.”. It is interference from Portuguese rather than a gap in your English, which is why it survives years of fluency.
Do these Portuguese patterns matter if everyone understands me anyway?: Being understood and sounding authoritative are different bars, and in a client meeting you are held to the second one. None of the 4 patterns on this page stop you being understood — that is precisely why nobody corrects them, and why they are still there after ten years.
How do I find out which Portuguese habits I actually have?: Paste a transcript from a real meeting and say which speaker is you. Every finding quotes your own sentence back with the version a native speaker would have used, across 3 categories of Portuguese interference, and the ones that keep recurring build into a profile so you can see the habit rather than a one-off.

Which of these do you actually do?

Reading a list is not the same as knowing which habit is yours. Paste a transcript from a real meeting and find out.

Check a real meeting

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